Pattie's Place – Page 24 – Good Stuff from Pattie

Park City Art Festival

08/12/2011 by Pattie Leave a Comment

Pretty Park City Art Festival….we went last Friday with my daughter and her 2 girls….

Last Friday and Saturday was the Park City Art Festival. We went to see some of the best artists in the country on Friday right before it officially opened. Luckily, because parking was terrible! . I was told that over 1000 artisans applied to show their stuff but they only chose 120. The ones we saw were very diverse and very talented. I snapped some fun pictures of some of the beautiful and funny things I saw on Park City’s Main Street.

Funny Park City T-shirts ….I told my biker husband he needs the one on the left….snicker....

There were paintings and photography of every style….

I must say the glass works were very beautiful. Here’s my little granddaughter posing. She’s beautiful too. 😀

This artist takes real wood tree parts and puts them in picture frames…..so beautiful.

This bronze artist was so talented. I want to own some of his amazing work someday.

He was my favorite artist. I even got his card….someday maybeI’ll be loaded and I’ll buy some of his amazing things….

He started out just taking a ceramics class. Then got a job in a foundry cleaning the floors.

This artist told me how he makes these…..(I was SO nosy) He puts old wine bottles (labels removed) in a kiln for 10 hours and they melt down flat.

And lookie how pretty they turn out… He puts the labels back on and adds ribbons….I LOVED these….

This talented potter has been making pottery for over 30 years….each piece was so pretty and unique.

There was woodwork…I’d LOVE this copper inlaid table in my Bear Lake cabin….Sigh…..

I was attracted to the glass guys again…guess how much this piece is he is holding? $6,000 bucks…yeah…not today….although I’d LOVE one of your amazing pieces….

My granddaughters loved this cute fountain wishing well….

Cool nature pieces….

This artist had all kinds of cute figurines made from steel and metals….doing all sorts of funny things….

He was once a welder….now an artist…all self taught….his stuff was very cool made out of just junk parts.

It was a beautiful day at the Park City Art Festival….mmmhmmm…..

Hey! we shoulda gotten our palms read….why didn’t we?

Well, we got back in the car and drove on to Bear Lake for the Raspberry Days Festival on Saturday. We have a cabin there and the whole family was planning to meet us to go boating and stuff. I loved the crafters there too, but nothing can compare with true artisans at The Park City Art Festival. It is such a special place.

Rice Crispy Treat Pops

08/09/2011 by Pattie Leave a Comment

Here’s my Rice Crispie Treat Pops…with M & Ms

Devin and Caitlin had their first anniversary this past week. They’ve been married 1 whole year. I made some rice crispy treat pops for them as they dropped by on their way home from St. Louis where Devin had a summer internship at Price Waterhouse.

The newlyweds came by for dinner

I made ribs and yummy side dishes and peach crisp for dessert! Check
out all my yummy recipes at The Weekday Chef, my other blog.

Caitlin had to stay behind in Utah and work at her PR job. How fair is that? NOT much fun for her. I’m glad they get a few weeks together before school starts up again. Devin has 2 semesters left to get his master’s degree. Yee Hah! A college grad at last!

So anyway…..Here’s how I made my cool crispie pops….

Heat up 1/4 cup or 1/2 a stick of butter with a 10 oz. bag of marshmallows in
a pan on the stove or in the microwave.

Then when it is white and melty mix in 6 cups of Kelloggs Rice Crispies

I looked on the rice crispy website for some creative things to do with rice crispy treats. I followed their recipe which is HERE at the Kelloggs website.
They had some cute pops using colorful Popsicle sticks. But I was out of them.

I poured all but about 3 cups into a 9 x 9 buttered pan and topped with M & Ms…yum!

Then I melted 1/3 cup of white candy melt discs in the microwave for 1 minute

Then I buttered my hands and formed the rest into 4 balls. Then I dipped the ends of them into the melted white chocolate and sprinkled the colorful toppers on as well as some M & Ms.

The M and Ms kept sliding off the balls….It may have been the slippery butter! So
I pressed them into the white candy melts before they hardened…NOT easy to do!

I didn’t have any Popsicle sticks so I cut some BBQ skewers and curled some ribbons and tied them on.

Then I poked the wooden skewers into those cute balls and here
they are with their curly ribbons decorating them!

Then I had to sit back and taste-test my treats…..they were yummo!

My little granddaughters dropped by and guess what treat they loved?

Here are my finished “Rice Crispy Treat Pops”

So Megan and Marisa came over to swim today. Guess who got the last 2 POPS?

Yeah, they were so funny! My older granddaughter said, “These are delicious!” So cute! They loved my little rice crispie treat pops. I love them! 😀

Cowabunga Bay and IHOP

08/05/2011 by Pattie Leave a Comment

Guess where we were all day today?

Hi Grandma! Can we go in the water NOW?

We went to IHOP and Cowabunga Bay Waterpark today for Megan’s 3rd birthday. It was fun to see their “happy face pancakes” at IHOP. I love that place for breakfast.

Strawberry happy face pancakes at IHOP…..yum…..

IHOP also has CHOCOLATE Happy Face pancakeS!

The waiters all sang to Megan and brought her a little frozen yogurt. So cute.
Then Tiff wanted to take the girls to Cowabunga Bay, a waterpark in Draper. So of course we wanted to tag along for some sunburnt fun. And I do mean sunBURNT!

To me Cowabunga Bay looks like a giant mousetrap….

Cowabunga Bay was super fun gampa!

Megan is like the Everready Bunny when it comes to waterparks. I couldn’t keep up with her. Good thing there were 3 adults to spell each other when she’d take off in a run for another ride. She is pretty fearless when it comes to the big slides. I’m beat. But it was lots of fun.

Tree advent calendar

08/01/2011 by Pattie Leave a Comment

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/telluride-advent-calendar-new/

Pottery Barn Advent Calendar Tree

I’m going to be a copycat! I have been staring at this cute advent calendar Christmas Tree at Pottery Barn for waaaaaayyyy tooooo long! It’s time I just went and made one. After all, I’ve taken 6 years plus 3 summer school sessions of sewing all the way to tailoring in college. I surely need to not let my sewing skills die on the vine.

I’m on my way to Joanne’s Crafts to pick up some cute Christmas material and embellishments. Next post….my TREE! Now I just need to get into the mood to put up my REAL tree! Does anybody wanna come over and help me? Geesh. I need some Christmas spirit…..

Backyard Garden

07/28/2011 by Pattie Leave a Comment

We have seriously neglected our backyard for the last few years. We were busy remodeling a kitchen and basement and bedrooms last year and the previous years. We had to redo floors and paint walls and remodel in the summer. So somethings gotta give, right? Yeah, it was the backyard. I just ignored it and let it grow wild!

Seriously neglected backyard terraces

Terraced gardens & grapevines…what a “before” mess!

Much better Backyard gardens “after” all the work….

The backyard stairs were done about 5 years ago with flagstone. They looked really good the first year, but after that all kinds of stuff grew all around and in between the rocks and it looked awful.

We added Solar Fence Post Caps in copper…they light up at night…super COOL!

Then the neighbor’s cement fence post fell on it. He was going through some financial woes, so we knew he couldn’t pay to have it fixed. Murphy’s Law. I knew there would be a reckoning day where from neglect we’d have to do all that WEEDING! And fixing! Oh CRAP! Do I HATE yard work? Yes, I do.

This is definitely the before flagstone steps picture!

Not perfect….but definitely an improved “after” picture….

So anyway THIS was the year we had to do it. Soooooo, we started on the middle terrace and pulled all the weeds and roto-tilled it, and added some soil amendment to it. Then we started our summer garden after all the snow in May melted. We had snow until the end of May! We had a very late start to Spring this year!

gardening stuff

tOmAtOeS

yEllOw sQuAsH…

GREEN zucchini

cHiVeS

First Fruits (and veggies) of the harvest…

We planted tomatoes, squash, zucchini, bell peppers in green and yellow, onions, and beans. Oh and the radishes my class did, I brought one home and replanted it. John got out all his tomato cages from the garage. And of course we had to fix like a GAZILLION sprinklers! What is up with those constantly breaking sprinkler heads? Don’t love those things.

aPpLeS

We had put in lots of fruit trees years back and they are finally starting to produce….not lots of stuff mind you…maybe a dozen fruits per tree….but it’s yummy and very fascinating to watch those trees just do their “thang”.

gRaPeS….

aPrIcOtS

We also have an apple tree, a peach and nectarine tree and an apricot tree. None of them ever have done really well except the apple. I think our soil is just too sandy. We have a pond in the backyard too and it looked just dreadful and it was clogged and yucky. So we had to redo that too. And neither one of us are “garden” people.

Ya gotta have some wind chimes…..

We are lazy weeders. I just want it to look good and I want to have fresh veggies…… and beautiful things everywhere….but I don’t want to worry about it! I don’t ask for much do I?

Lilly pads in our backyard pond….and we add 30 goldfish too….There are about 7 left….but they are BIG now!

We added flowers under the deck for he first time too…

The hydrangeas should do well in all the shade that is there…

The garden looks a WHOLE lot better here in the after picture… we’ve got tomatoes too!

We repainted the deck. It was quite a sight! We used that new RESTORE paint.

Johnny painting the deck after I pressure washed it…what a stud!

Here’s how it looks now….its fun to go out and BBQ again! Woopie!

Here’s the other end of the deck where we hang out to tan. My doggie Bruce likes to hang in the shade with us. We filled a cooler with cokes and it’s fun to read in the lounger…..oh yeah….the life of the summer-off teacher….LOL

I got some tiny chairs for my 3 grand kiddos too… when they come over…

We fixed up a place down by the jacuzzi for seating too. It’s suddenly become a fun place to hang out again!

Under the deck by the jacuzzi…colored green and blue motion-detection
lighting at night made it more inviting!

looking up from lower yard to the terraces and apple tree….

lower yard…a fun place to lay out and tan….

It’s fun to see pay dirt on all our hard work….now it’s fun to go outside again!
I think we figured out the secret….just to do a little bit every few days…it was discouraging at first….but seeing it get better over time…(and still a ways to go) has been very rewarding. And maybe…just maybe I’m not such a black thumb after all!

How to Find Great Deals!

07/22/2011 by Pattie 3 Comments

My sister-in-law and my husband both told me I should blog about some of the great deals I’ve found lately. I am a real “hunter” gatherer when I shop. I have all my fav places and I know where the clearance section is in the store for each department.

Let’s start with Kohls. What they are really good for is linens, bedding, seasonal gifts and baby clothes. There is a clearance section (usually 60% off or more) in the middle of the linens section you should always check out. I’ve gotten queen sized complete bed sets with dust ruffle, shams, sheets and comforters for $40 that are very pretty.

GREAT DEALS! Lamp$15, from T.J. Max, comforter set Kohls $40.00 and the rocker was $25.00 from Walmart after the summer clearance on outdoor furniture. It’s a porch rocker! Headboard and dresser are from R. C. Willey Clearance Center $60 for the headboard, I think $125 for the dresser. R.C. Willey clearance center.

They also have good deals on candles and seasonal decs. I usually go look in back of the rug section against the wall and they will have a clearance section of picture frames, candles, seasonal decorations and you can get things for $1.50 to $7.00 and it can be the perfect little addition to a wall at home or a corner area that just needs something.

GREAT DEALS! These Easter candy dishes I got a year ahead after the season for my daughters in law and daughter 75% off and with a coupon at Kohls. Check out the seasonal clearance area after every holiday!

I always find a really good deal on baby clothes on the clearance rack, especially after a holiday. I can get them the same shirt in 3 sizes for my 3 granddaughters the days after Halloween or Easter and then the following year give that for a gift in the correct size. Kmart has deals too on jammies, dresses and things like purses and hats and umbrellas. I got these matching Dora umbrellas after the rainy season a year ahead for just a few bucks and then gave them as Easter gifts the following year. I think they were $2.00 each. The Easter dresses from T.J. Max were $5.00.

Toy GREAT DEALS I always find at Kohls, Kmart.

Can you believe these dresses were $5.00 each? T.J. Max after Easter Sale.

It is sometimes hard to guess how big they will be in a year’s time though. But I save so much money. I’ve gotten darling dresses, shirts, beach hoodie towels, costumes, coats and jammies for a few bucks and saved 90% especially when I have a coupon. And who doesn’t like to have matching cousin shirts and dresses for a picture opportunity?

I got these matching sets on a baby clothes sale at Kmart….very good baby clothes deals…

I had my daughter make matching hair bows…so cute!

And on the days they give out $10.00 in Kohl’s cash for every $50 you spend? I get $20 to $30 to buy something for myself the next week! Very cool! Get on their credit card, but always pay your whole bill every month. They’ll send you a 30% off coupon almost every other month.

I LOVE place mats. I have a selection of place mats for every holiday and 3

Kohls GREAT DEALS!

sets for Christmas. I am continually updating them. My fav place is Kohls for place mats. Here are some cute pics of seasonal ones I’ve bought AFTER the holiday for like $1.00 to $1.50 each.

Easter decs and place mats…Hobby Lobby GREAT DEALS!
good after the holiday with a 40% off coupon!

It makes my holiday table to have cute place mats and cute runners. The runners go fast so I usually use my 30% off coupon on a day that the runners are on 50% off. (quite often!) I shop Hobby Lobby for seasonal decs too. I get a real good deal that way at the beginning of the season if I want the very best selection.

End tables($59) T.J. Max, Bedding in a set w/pillows $40 bucks!

Beds we got at R.C. Willey Clearance Center. I think this dark wood set was $90.00. I always go there first. These dining room chairs were $59 each and they gave us a 15% discount because I asked the salesman if he could sweeten the deal. They always do!

These leather and fabric chairs were around $50 bucks at R. C. Willey Clearance Center.

For outdoor furniture and lighting and rugs I like Lowes. Rugs and lighting I find at Lowes for a fraction of what I’d pay elsewhere. I just got a 5 x 7 light green remnant rug for a bedroom for $25.00. And the quality of carpet is very nice.

At Lowes these adirondack chairs were $10 bucks at summer’s end and the umbrella from Kmart was only $9.00.
The placemats, candle and an outdoor pillow from Walmart were very inexpensive too.

We had our eye on these copper solar end caps for our deck but waited till summer’s end when they all went on sale. Then we bought up the batch and put them on all our deck posts.

I’ve gotten all my bathroom rugs and draperies at a great deal at T. J. Max. They always have draperies at $10.00 a panel that are very rich looking with metal accents. Bathroom rugs you can get for $7 to $9 that are very unusual and nice quality and an amazing variety of styles. I bought all my Bear Lake cabin rugs there and they are all unusual and beautiful.

And Target in the back on the end caps in the linens area, lots of times has clearance things where you get the deal of the century. But the key is you have to frequent these places once or twice a month to get the deal. They are gone fast. I’ve found sheets and mattress pads and curtains and nice decorator pillows for $5 after the season there.

I found the cute fuzzy blue butterfly chair on overstock.com for $24.00 to go with this “Target college dorm” bedding ($9.00 for each quilt). Pretty lamp to match I found at T.J. Max for 20 bucks! It’s so pretty when lighted up the brown and blue design shows through.

I’ve decorated my Bear Lake Cabin with Target and T.J. Max and the bedroom comforter sets were $9.00 and the sheet sets were $5.00. Nicer 400 count sheet sets I found for $18.00 end of summer at Walmart. You just may have to go to several Targets or Walmarts to get all your things matching.

The “college dorm” stuff goes on clearance end of July or August. Look for lots of deals on bedding at Target then.

Beautiful rug was from Bed, Bath & Beyond for like $75 and I had a 25% off coupon so it was much less. Couches on clearance from Costco. But we had to go to 3 different Costcos to find a matching set.
Shop in September at Costco for couches and big bookcases and things
when they mark big furniture pieces down. We bought these at the very end of September for a little over $400 each for LEATHER! Coffee and end tables were less than $120 at R.C. Wiley Clearance Center on 90th and Redwood Road. Always ask for a further discount. I always get it. Check out Costco if you need new big furniture pieces.

I go to Lowe’s for all my lighting. They have stuff on clearance in every type of lighting all year round. I also love Lowes for outdoor furnishings, mirrors and all of our floor and wall tiles. We always find mirrors there for 40 to 60% off. Just check out the clearance mirrors, the selection there is fantastic. I also get coupons periodically if I spend $50 I get $10 off so wait for big purchases to use with a coupon.

Even our jet skis and quads we bought on KSL used and looked and looked for weeks before we got each and every one. We ended up finding a guy who had 3 on a triple trailer with life vests for $2000. We’ve upgraded several times since but we enjoyed that original purchase for about 2 years before any upgrades. Our kids have seen the great deals we’ve gotten on Craig’s List and KSL and they all do it too.

T.J. Max has good small mirrors too. I have found cute ones for bedrooms or bathrooms for $15.00! Occasionally I’ve found lamp “sets” at Shopko for a great deal, (floor lamp and 2 end table lamps for (35 bucks). I also love the leather chair and ottoman combo they have there for $250. I’ve bought 2 sets.

Lowes mirror was less than $20 bucks.

One of the secrets of shopping like a bloodhound is knowing about how much things cost on average before you can recognize a deal. If you know lamps you want go for around $40.00 after looking online for the style you like,
then when you see one for less than $20 you know you are getting a good deal if you do really like them. I just found some to replace my mismatched ones in the master light blue bedroom above on a great deal at Lowes; $9.00! And these beautiful brown decorative stitched shades were $5.00.

Lowes ceiling fans were bought end of the season I think in September. They were
$89.00 regular $260 so we got 2 for our great room ceiling.

Same go for ceiling fans. My husband will show me one that he likes for $200.00 and I’ll tell him, “lets wait till August when they all go on clearance and we’ll see this same one for $89.00 or maybe less.”

I saw a cute outdoor fan that would have been perfect for this year’s deck redo that I could have picked up last summer for $75.00 and I let it get away. I just had reached my spending limit. But you can imagine I wish I’d grabbed it this year now that all the outdoor ones are back up to $150 or more.

John has this one in his office. It was a clearance lamp at Costco, I think it was $60.

Also, go online and type into google what you’d like to buy. Then click on “images” to get a good idea of everything that’s out there. Then if you want to know the website the image came from click on that image. You can get educated on all the ins and outs of that item, the low and high prices for it, and how people have decorated with it.

I got the table for $5.00 at Ikea, regular $20. the chairs for $9.00 at Target.
We use them for extra seating at holiday dinners. I made the cute Stop sign out of scrap chalkboard wood.

Bed was from KSL used. We just washed it off and got new mattresses and bedding for it.

The funny thing on this grandkid bedroom is I bought the pictures and “cars” bedding before I knew I was having girls! And I had 3 granddaughters! Too funny. I had so many boys I guess I just assumed I’d have grandsons! But the girls love this room. I’ll post more about it later. I’m finishing a giant chalkboard to match. I made the Stop sign out of the remnant chalkboard wood.

Ikea is also good for some things…these cute curtains…the 1, 2 3 boxes both were less than $10.00. This is the grandkids bunkbed room. I got a red metal bunk for $50 on KSL, another good source for used stuff, if you like redoing or repainting.

This is especially helpful if you are remodeling like we’ve been for the past 3 years. Then go online and peruse Target, Kohls, R.C. Willey and Lowes and see if what you like is on sale. Then go shopping with a clear idea of what you are looking for. You’ll find deals here and there if you are willing to wait.

WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO FIND A DEAL?

Strawberry Pie

07/15/2011 by Pattie Leave a Comment

I love fresh strawberries and I had a ton I got from the farmer’s market on a good deal. So I made a strawberry pie. This recipe is so easy and it was deeeeeeelish. You make the glaze with jello! So easy peasy.

Just the 3 oz. box boiled with sugar water makes a great Strawberry Glaze!

I’m gonna do another one in peach for Johnny’s birthday next week. We are having everyone over for dinner. I think we’ll do some ribs on the barbi. Mmmmmhmmmm. Yeah!

I like to make my crust with real butter. It just tastes better to me, like a yummy crescent cookie. So try your crust with butter. I used 1 cube butter, cut in 1 1/3 cup of flour. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 3 Tablespoons ice water (I add ice cubes to the water before taking out the Tablespoons.

The glaze is easy..just jello mixed with sugar water and cornstarch…

Then I like to whisk it up mold it into a ball and roll it out on a large zip lock baggie. It just makes life easier and I was out of waxed paper. 😀 I rolled it out so it was about 1/2 inch bigger all around than the pie tin layed over it. Then I cut around it.

I rolled it out onto the gallon size baggie…you could use waxed paper too.

cuttin’ around the upside down tin…1/2 inch bigger for the cute edging…

It’s so easy to flip the pie crust into the pan and peel off the baggie…then toss it!

Making the beautiful edging is my fav part. Just pinch between your left thumb and your right thumb and forefinger to make the pointy peaks around your pie crust edge. Or opposite if you are a lefty.

Don’t forget to poke forkholes in the pie crust…then bake at 475 for 8-10 minutes.

While the crust was baking I did the glaze and cut off the tops of the strawberries and washed and dried them. The glaze is super easy. Mix 3/4 cup sugar with 1 cup of water and 2 tablespoons cornstarch and put it on the stove till it is smooth and boiling for about 2 minutes.

Boil the syrup for about 2 minutes….It’s a little bit thick….

Take it off the stove and toss in the small box of jello….

Then take it off the heat and add 1 small 3 oz. strawberry jello into the thickening syrup. Whisk it for a minute till it is dissolved and then put it in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool.

Here’s my glaze before I refrigerated it for 15 minutes….

Then arrange the yummy strawberries with the pointy side up in the cooled pie shell. By the time I had the green tops cut off and them washed and dried, the glaze was cool! Pour the glaze over the top, coating each of the top strawberries. Then pop it into the fridge for a 1/2 hour until set.

It was delicious because the top of the crust was still crunchy cookie tasting. I hate pie crust that is all soggy Ug! So we ate that baby up so fast!!! It was gone by morning. Yum is all I can say. But I wish I had made 2 of em.

Who says you can’t have a fruit pie for breakfast…NOT ME!

I’ll be dreaming of this pie for awhile……mmmmm good!

Delicioso Chip and Dip recipes!

07/09/2011 by Pattie Leave a Comment

I love, love, love chips and dips of all kinds. I have my favorites too. I love a real easy dip made from 2 ingredients; cream cheese and chili microwaved. It is sooooo good warm and with those “Scoops” Fritos.
I made this one for the family party on 4th of July. It was gone in about 20 minutes.

Chili cream cheese dip

Another one that is wonderful is Plain white Greek Yogurt mixed with dill weed and tiny bits of diced cucumber. It’s great with a tray of beautiful summer veggies and very healthy and low-cal. You can buy it made up or just buy the greek yogurt and make up your own. It’s so easy. Just shake in dill weed to taste and a little salt and pepper.

greek yogurt dip

A fancier one that I just recently heard about and tried was a block of cream cheese on a pretty plate, then pour Raspberry Chipotle sauce from Costco over the top. It was kind of expensive but it is a good chicken marinade too. And this dip is sooooooo Good with crackers, baguettes OR Tostitos.

raspberry chipotle dip

Have fun dipping and chipping!

Bedroom Remodeling (mountain theme)

07/05/2011 by Pattie Leave a Comment

After Devin got married to Caitlin last August, they moved into a condo down at Brigham Young University while Devin finishes up his masters in Information Systems. So we decided his room needed a remodel. I like the western/mountain theme so I found a few items to use as inspiration.

The first was this cute brown and red corduroy material quilt from one of my fav stores Target (tarjay). I loved the red little camping lamp (to the left of the bed) that was sold with it so I bought the 2 pieces to start the room.

Loved this little mirror on the bookcase embossed with fir tree leaves….my
granddaughters love all the Teddy Bears around the room….

Target had a brown dust ruffle but I got a red one instead
I love the color red for accessories…it’s my favorite color!

Then we decided to repaint with a two tone light brown and tan. Both were Glidden colors from Home Depot. I really liked the tan/yellowish “wheat” color on top of the chair rail, and decided to also paint my family room/den with the same color.

I made a little plant with an old red glass jug…don’t you love the old milk bottles?
I’m trying to think of a saying to putunderneath this oak shelf in vinyl…Real cowboys..da da dee da….

I had a little left over so I primed my front door to see what it would look like in one of the tan shades. I think I’ll do a deeper brown color to the door…but maybe a dark red?

I don’t love the door. I think maybe a red/rust color instead….

Yeah! MUCH better! (another sidetracked project……sheesh!)

Here’s the red “camp lantern” lamp I got from Target….I loved the western “saddle” picture frame and
iron and wood table I found on clearance at Hobby Lobby.

Here’s the finished paint job and new wood flooring….we got wooden mini blinds on the window too. My husband put in oak laminate snap in flooring from Costco. It was easy and we saved $8.00 per box!

Then I went over all the mouldings in the room and repainted them white, including the closet and doors. That is THE MOST BORING JOB ON THE PLANET!!! Luckily I had some good tunes on the boom box CD to get me through. Have you heard of the Band Perry? I love those guys. They do country and crossover. Check them out.

We got this “moose” lamp on clearance at Lowes…best place for lighting IN MY OPINION! I think it was $15 bucks…
I’m waiting for the companion wall lamp that has “moose” with rusty metal to go on sale….it’s still $70 bucks!

And finally these tan and brown curtains added a nice look to the window….I got them at T.J. Max

This room used to have off white carpet and so we redid the floors in a medium oak wood and I got a cute rug in red and brown colors to match the tones of the room.

I got the set of 3 colored baskets at Joannes. I love that place!

I found a cool set of 3 nesting baskets that were line with fabric. I thought that they would be great for my accent colors. They look great on the old wooden armoire. I filled it up with old sweaters and blankets.

I just LOVE all the dust on this rocking chair circa 1980s… I remember rocking all my kids in it!
I filled an old basket with red and white silk geraniums… I kill regular plants really quickly!

I like how the room turned out. It was fun to do a “mountain man” room. And my granddaughters LOVE to sleep in there when they come to visit. There is a collection of teddy bears all around the room to go with the “bear” quilt. We also keep a “porta crib” in there for overnighters.

Headboard idea….should I do wood doors….or should I do fabric headboard?

The last thing I need to do in here is make a headboard. I’m waffling between 2 ideas; a brown or red painted headboard made out of these 4 old doors I have sitting in the garage. I would sand and glaze them to make them look aged a bit…. OR…

The other option is a red or brown corduroy fabric headboard with nail head tacks pounded all over the edging. I’m leaning toward the fabric headboard. I bought the dark brown metal pounded tacks already. Which do you think would look better?

4th of July Decorating

07/04/2011 by Pattie Leave a Comment

But THIS is THE BEST idea!. My grandkiddos would LOVE this red and blue ring pop for a 4th of July party favor. I’ve gotta do this! The idea was originally from THIS WEBSITE HERE.

I always have fun decorating my house for 4th of July. I didn’t go overboard this time either! I’ve only got 1 box full of decorations and I hope to keep it that way. (gotta stay out of Hobby Lobby this month!) (OOPS, too late!).

I have 2 sets of patriotic placemats. I like these the best…they go cute with the table runner….

I bought this patriotic quilt and pillow at Kohls one year on clearance…check out my favorite store!

Isn’t this the cutest Ice Cream Sandwich treat you’ve ever seen? And how EASY! Check out Spoonful.com.

Here were my 4th of July cupcakes….the frosting was 1 c.marshmallow creme, 1 c. cool whip, 1 small brick cream cheese….yummy!

My doggie keeps trying to bite the leg off my Uncle Sam…naughty Brucifer!

This looks EASY but CUTE! I’m going to try it! This one is HERE at Cooking with Sugar. It would look cute with some little flags or cupcake pics of some sort coming out of the top wouldn’t it? I have some small red star candles that would be cute! Maybe a sparkler?

I got these off pinterest. They look really easy if you have a cricut machine for the lettering!

We got the Statue of Liberty in N.Y.C. when our family took a D.C. trip to the East Coast trip one year…..It was fun to
see the war reenactments in Philadelphia, and we saw the liberty bell there.
DON”T go there in August….it was so hot! Yuck!

My front entry table….I need a hat for my little Lady Liberty….This pic is of my nephew Garrett in the U.S. Army…
I used to babysit that guy when he was just a newborn baby!

These looked really easy so I thought I’d try them too! They are from LOTS of cute ideas at All You.
I love putting candy in seasonal colors around my house….only problem is my 2 1/2 year old granddaugter eats it all in one gobble!

Patriotic Decor

Front Yard has to look all American too! My uncle Sam windsock is out there somewhere….OH and I painted my door RED! It looks a lot better now.

Here is an American Eagle we did one year in my classroom as a Patriotic Craft. That would be fun to do with the grandkids on the 4th of July. ALL kids LOVE glitter and paint.

Here’s a close up of the front door wreath I cut out and painted the little flag holding Patriotic BEAR like 20 years ago! Yeah, I’m pretty PATRIOTIC!